Midnight Phantom
by Angelite Phoenix
Summary: After a visit to the graveyard,strange and spooky things start to happen around Tohru and the young Sohmas.Theres a deadly sickness and a spectre haunting the place.Its up to Tohru & the other Sohma's to make a difficult decision. Akito or the Juuniishi?
1. Chapter 1: Wish Upon A Graveyard

Author's note: Hi, Fruitylicious Angel here! This is my second fanfic on Fruits basket, my first was a drama/suspense called Destiny Unmasked and now I've decided to write a horror/supernatural story. I do not own Fruits Basket, I own Midnight Phantom.  
First chapter is told in Akito's P.O.V  
Oh and I know that Akito's a girl and all but it's kinda weird you know, so just pretend we don't know that he's a girl yet.

Hope you like the sound of this!

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**Chapter 1: Wish upon a graveyard**

Time, So precious, yet limited. Akito Sohma's life wasn't something to be proud of. Apart from being the head of the Sohma clan, Akito was always lonely and nobody ever seemed to care. Life was so boring and I am constantly sick. Then along came Tohru Honda, stupid old girl who took away all the jyunishi like she was god. 'yea right' Akito smirked. It wasn't fair, I hate her and to think she actually wanted to be friends with me. The jyunishi can be so gullible and that Tohru, well she's just manipulative. I am sick of having to be constantly fooled by that girl. There is no way the curse can ever be broken, ignore Kureno's incident and everything will be how it should be. God and the animals of the zodiac. Together, it's a bond and it will stay as a bond.

Akito looked at the clock. 11:54pm. He took a walk around the Sohma graveyard which is rumoured to be a place where each and every one of the zodiac animal's in the past lived. Including god but not the cat. The cat will never be accepted into the zodiac, Akito had always thought of that theory to be quite true. He hated the cat just as much as he hated Tohru.

As he reached a spot where the biggest grave was placed, he read:  
Ryoichi Sohma  
1898-1918

Head of Sohma family.

It was the oldest grave and the biggest, so this had to be the first leader of the jyunishi and he was 20 when he died.

It gave Akito the shivers just to know that he could die any minute. He respected Ryoichi as they had something in common. He placed flowers and candles next to the grave and prayed that Ryoichi could help him rid Tohru and all people that meddle with the curse.

Then he whispered a small thank you and went back inside to sleep. Now it was 12:59am.

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Back at Shigure's house, Tohru heard a movement at her window. She opened her eyes, got up from bed checking if anyone was around, then closed her window, sighed with relief and went back to bed. Her clock struck 12:00am a few seconds after she fell asleep.

'Kyo dying, Yuki dying, Tohru weeping……Shigure dying…'

Tohru woke up with a startle and a small scream. She had the most awful nightmare straight after when she fell asleep. She breathed heavily, coughing and spluttering. She quickly drank some water and looked at the time. 6:37 am. She couldn't sleep, so she got up and went to the kitchen starting to make breakfast without knowing it.

She thought of the dream. Could it be she's lacking sleep? She hadn't had such a scary dream in a long time. She heard a noise around the stairs. She ran towards it carrying a mop. 'Am I being paranoid?' she asked herself.

Then without thinking, she swung the mop forward and hit the thing coming down the stairs.

"Miss Honda?" The voice belonged to Yuki Sohma. He had a surprised look, kind of a 'what are you doing?' expression.

Tohru went pink instantly.

"I-I-I sorry, I thought you were someone, I thought you were a burglar." Tohru admitted with shame.

"A burglar?" Yuki asked her still wondering what she was on about.

"Last night I umm……… somebody opened my window, but it was locked so I have no idea how they did it. It must've been the wind……but I do remember locking it in place so……I don't know. Sorry, how is your head?" Tohru said remembering where she had nearly hit Yuki.

"I'm fine. Why are you up so early, did you have a bad sleep?"

"I had nightmares, sounds really silly but it's true."

"About what?" Yuki questioned with interest.

"Oh umm…are you hungry? I've made breakfast." Tohru didn't wish to share her nightmare so she pretended to not hear what he said.

"Oh well ok." Yuki answered following Tohru into the kitchen and giving her a helping hand.

"What's all the noise? Oh it's you two. Geez your loud!" Kyo said with his messy hair. He was still half-asleep.

"Good Morning Kyo, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." Tohru said apologetically.

"Nah it doesn't matter, but I'm starved so what's for breakfast?" Kyo shrugged it off.

"Oh well I have made some pancakes." Tohru said gesturing to the table.

"I hope you'll like them as I added some fruit syrup onto the plate if you want more flavour." She explained.

"Thank you Miss Honda, they taste delicious." Yuki smiled at her.

"Your welcome."

Kyo sat down to eat after pouring a tall glass of milk.

"Oh what's that smell? Pancakes?" Shigure said with a goofy grin.

"Morning Shigure, yes it's pancakes." Tohru greeted him.

After eating breakfast, Tohru, Yuki and Kyo set off for school. As soon as Yuki entered the building, girls started crowding around him asking him to accept their gifts.

Kyo dragged Tohru off preferring not to be in the crowd of squirming squealing girls.

"Sweet Tohru is here." Called out Hana as her electric signal made a loud and bright beep.

"Hey Tohru, over here!" Uo yelled to Tohru.

Tohru walked towards Uo and Hana while Kyo went to talk to a group of boys. After the bell rang for class, Tohru heard a lot of noise. She turned around finding the group of boys gasping.

She ran next to them and spotted Kyo on the ground. Something wasn't right, and then she remembered. Her nightmare had looked exactly like this. Was she getting premonitions of the future or something?

Kyo had collapsed.

Tohru ran to seek help, and a while later Kyo had gone home, well actually Hatori had taken Shigure in his car to pick up Kyo.

After school, Tohru arrived home with Yuki. Her face was full of worry as she went to see Kyo still asleep in his bed.

She noticed Yuki couldn't care less although she could spot a slight tinge of worry in his face as well.

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Finished chapter 1 of Midnight Phantom.

You might be wondering why I named it this but you'll find out as I write more.

Hope you enjoyed reading chapter 1!

Please review, it'll motivate me a little.

Fruitylicious-Angel


	2. Chapter 2: Desperate For Luck

A/N: thank you to everyone who reviewed my first story. Now chapter 2 is out, I hope you'll like it just as much as chapter 1! First part is written in Tohru's P.O.V.  
Keep posting!  
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**Chapter 2 Desperate for Luck**

Tohru prepared dinner for Kyo and brought it up to his room since he was so sick that he couldn't get up. Even Hatori, the doctor had troubles with determining which sickness it was, he had never come across such a weird illness which made him stay at Shigure's house until Kyo was better.

Tohru and Yuki went to school while Kyo was still sick at home. They finished their exams and Yuki went to his student council meetings when Tohru went to work. She arrived and started mopping the floors and cleaning the windows at a fast rate. When a man in a fancy suit came up to her.

"You're Miss Honda aren't you?" The man asked.

"Why yes, I am." She replied.

"I'm the manager of this office, and I've heard a few complaints about the dirtiness of this building, I'm afraid I have to say this but your fired. So if you could please return your uniform promptly, gather your things and leave." He said sternly.

"W-what…I'm fired?" She asked as if he had said something wrong.

"Yes. By the way, may I take your identification card of this workplace." He said snatching the card clipped onto her pocket.

Tohru started to weep as she cleared her things up, took her uniform back and walked home. So many bad things happened to me today. Whilst I was walking to school, I slipped and fell into a puddle of mud dragging Yuki along with me causing us to be mud-soaked, at school I got my lunch from the cafeteria and spilt my drink on one of the prince Yuki fan club girls, I found the exams extremely difficult, I dropped my project on the floor, it was made out of glass so it broke and I had to explain excuses to the teacher and now…………now……I'm fired.

Come to think of it, last night, Tohru had another nightmare about being sucked into this tremendous hole full of bad luck, maybe she was getting premonitions of the future. It was kind of freaky having dreams that related to the day ahead.

She opened the door to Shigure's house, feeling no happiness around her like normal; she had really bad luck today. It was just a cold, frigid atmosphere. She suddenly lit up when she saw Shigure.

"Hello Tohru." He greeted her.

"Hi Shigure."

"So how was work?" He asked.

"I got- I got- fired." Tohru said looking away and blinking back tears of anger and confusion.

"My…my… that is quite, sad. I don't have any happy news for you because when I went out to water the flowers in out garden, I found that Yuki was on the porch, looking like a ragged doll. Hatori says that it might just be the same disease or sickness as Kyo as they both have the same symptoms." Shigure explained with a hint of seriousness in his voice that definitely was not normal.

"Oh my goodness, is Yuki okay? Is Kyo okay?" Tohru asked.

"Yuki's in bed now, so is Kyo. I think things have been rather strange these days. Don't you?"

"Yes, that is true." Tohru answered thinking of all the things that caused her bad luck today.

This is getting really suspicious, it's all linked to my nightmares. Oh god, please don't let me be the cause of all these things otherwise I'll never be able to forgive myself. Tohru thought as she looked at the picture of her mother.

Tohru cooked dinner for everyone, sent the dinner to Kyo and Yuki's room, then sat down and ate with Shigure and Hatori.

"Oh, I hope this doesn't happen to me." Shigure said being a bit of a drama king again.

"Don't be so self-centred." Hatori pointed out.

"Hari, I'm not that self-centred. Am I Tohru?" He said looking at Tohru with an innocent expression.

"Umm-well……"

"I'll take that as a no, see Hari, I'm very caring." Shigure said happily.

Hatori just rolled his eyes.

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Tohru went to bed, checking her windows were locked in place. She placed a candle on her desk and lighted it. 'No wind can come in now, my door is locked, windows locked and shut tightly. The flame can't go out.' She thought to herself.

Then she fell asleep…

As soon as the clock struck midnight, she started to have nightmares again. This time it was Momiji dying…she also spotted Akito in the background and she herself was in a graveyard. It was all a blur and it didn't make sense but it all had a connection.

She awoke with a stir. It was 6:50am. Then she gasped, the candle went out and the window was open. Again, she got up and looked around alarmed that someone could have gotten into her room. She started to get frightened. This was so creepy and it all just made her shiver. She quickly got changed and went downstairs, ate her breakfast and left for school knowing that Kyo and Yuki would have to stay home.

She left a note for Shigure saying that his breakfast was in the fridge. She then suddenly remembered her vision of Momiji dying. She raced to school tripping over a rock, and grazing her knee. It hurt a lot, but she had to trust her dream so she kept running. "I have to get to Momiji before the sickness does." She said under her breath.

As she reached school, she crashed into Haru carrying a load of books. The books all came down in a heap and Tohru bent down to help Haru.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, but why were you running? And what's wrong with your knee." Haru asked.

"I fell over but it doesn't matter, I need to see Momiji." She said desperately waving her arms.

"Okay, calm down, his classroom's not too faraway from here, 4 classrooms down, first turn on the right." He stood up giving her the directions.

"Thank you." She ran off then stopped.

"Oh Haru, I almost forgot to tell you. Yesterday, Yuki…. He's got the sickness." Tohru called out to Haru.

"I'm going to see him right now." Haru said walking off.

"Wait…." She replied, and then forgot about Haru still trying to find Momiji.

Then she spotted him, blonde hair, short, perky, yup that was Momiji and he wasn't collapsed on the floor. She gave a huge sigh of relief and ran to him.

"Tohru!" He exclaimed waving to her.

"Momiji, are you okay?" she asked trying to catch her breath.

"Yea I'm okay, why do you ask?"

"Don't worry about it, as long as your fine." Tohru reassured him.

Then she said goodbye and headed out the door of Momiji's classroom when she heard a sudden 'BANG'.

The whole class turned to look including Tohru.

Momiji seemed to have hit something and now he was on the floor, same position as Kyo and Yuki.

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Cool, I've finished chapter 2!

I can't wait to write chapter 3 which won't be too faraway.

I'd love to read what you think so please review.

Fruitylicious-Angel


	3. Chapter 3: Coincidence? I Think Not

A/N: Hi readers.

So what do you think of the story so far?

Enjoy Chapter 3!

**Chapter 3 Coincidence? I think not**

Tohru ran to Momiji's side praying that he would be okay but he wasn't infact the way he landed looked so uncomfortable, Tohru couldn't help but feel extremely sorry for him. At the end of the day, Momiji was sent home which left Haru the only Sohma at school since the others were all sick. Tohru left school and headed for work when she suddenly remembered that she had gotten fired. Then she thought of her nightmare last night, she had seen Momiji in pain, a graveyard and … and Akito in the background. She decided that she would pay him a visit, the sudden sicknesses had something to do with him and Tohru wanted to find out what.

As she arrived outside the Sohma estate, she sneaked through the secret entrance that Momo (Momiji's sister) had once shown her. Tohru took a peek and spotted Momiji lying in his bed sound asleep then she looked for Akito's room. She saw Kureno feeding the ducks at the pond; she didn't want him to see her so she took the other direction where she bumped into Ritsu, she got a fright and let out a small shout.

Ritsu jumped into a panic.

"Oh Tohru, it's you, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you, its just I find it amazing that you're here and …and are you okay? I'm really sorry! Will you please forgive me…"

"Ritsu, I'm fine." Tohru said giving out a sigh of relief.

"So Tohru, it's nice to see you but what are you doing here? Not saying that you shouldn't be here." Ritsu asked politely.

"Well……to tell the truth, I'm looking for Akito." Tohru said bluntly.

"Akito. Why is that?"

Tohru explained the situation to Ritsu and he took it in pretty badly.

"Oh my… how are they? Is there any way I can help? Oh dear……this is awful, one by one, the zodiac are getting sick……oh what should we do?"

Tohru tried to calm him down.

"If you can come with me to see Akito, it would help." She suggested.

"Oh…ok well I'll come." Ritsu agreed taking Tohru to Akito's area. He knocked on the door and they heard Akito say come in. They stepped inside and kneeled down.

"So why is it that you Ritsu come with Miss Tohru here?" Akito asked in his mean tone.

"Actually I decided to come, Ritsu's here just to support me. Have you heard, one by one the members of the zodiac are falling ill…Yuki, Kyo and Momiji are already lying in bed sick with the same symptoms. Everyday, a person gets sick and I'm having these dreams that link to what's going to happen the next day. I was wondering if you knew anything about this or how we can stop it since you're the head of the Sohma family." Tohru told Akito bravely.

Although he was surprised he showed no emotion.

"Why should I care if they fall sick? The monster cat can fall sick anytime and why are you coming to me with all your dream problems. This has got nothing to do with me." Akito replied coldly.

"Akito, I'm sorry but I can't let you do nothing. Someone could die." Tohru protested.

"Oh what's this? An order. I'm the head of the Sohma family, yes I am, but what do you think I should do? Huh? You useless filthy orphan." He snared coming towards Tohru.

"Don't you care about your family?" Tohru asked still trying to persuade him.

"They are no family of mine, they're just made to belong to me, and I own them. I own all the jyunishi and there's nothing you can do to stop me and if they die from this so called sickness, it's not my problem." Akito said turning his back on Tohru.

"Akito, please. It would mean a lot of us…" Ritsu pleaded.

"Shut up monkey, I did not ask for your opinion! Now leave!" Akito's anger level started to rise.

"I'm sorry Tohru, I tried to persuade him…" said Ritsu.

"It's ok Ritsu, we did our best. I guess I better go home now. Bye Ritsu and thank you for all your help." Tohru said walking off.

"Ok, bye Tohru." Ritsu waved.

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Akito thought of what Tohru had said. How could all the zodiac animals be getting sick? He had a sudden flash back. 'I wish to rid Tohru and all people who meddle with the curse/whoever trespasses the Sohma family.' It felt as if something had backfired, it was meant to be Tohru not the zodiac. He started the worry a little. What's going to happen? Is something going to break our bond?

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Tohru exited through the secret entrance. Along the way she had seen just a long trail of buildings, gardens, ponds, a graveyard, animals and weird statues.

Something definitely didn't feel right.

She reached home and checked on Yuki. It was so sad just to see him lying there sick. She tried to talk to him but he was quite sick and it took him and Kyo so much effort just to say a sentence.

She walked towards Kyo and sat on his bed feeling his forehead, he still had a fever. She placed his dinner on the bedside table then left for the kitchen making dinner for Shigure since Hatori had left to look after Momiji. She herself didn't feel hungry so she decided to pass, she needed an early sleep. This time, she placed the candle and lighted it in her glass cupboard and closed the door so that wind couldn't get it. She checked her window and closed them tightly again making sure wind couldn't pass through. She locked her door and attached the key onto her neck so that no one could get to it without waking her.

She felt safer now that she triple-checked everything then she fell deep asleep.

Haru…..falling….dying……….graveyard in the background…

Tohru screamed as she woke, yet another dream. It was too much, this time it would be Haru. She couldn't let it happen. Before she could get up she saw red stains on her bed sheets that looked like blood. She stood up finding a sharp bladed knife where she had slept, where the hell did that come from? She started to panic; she checked herself for any wounds and found a small cut on her arm. Tohru started to cry as she noticed the candle had blown out once again leaving no trace. Her window was open, her door was unlocked. It couldn't have been Shigure; Tohru was the only person who kept the lock to her door.

She ran out of her room, she was so full of fear that she was shaking madly. She bumped into someone as she ran to the kitchen and fell over.

"Tohru are you alright?" It was only Shigure.

"No! Something's wrong, someone's in the house……!"

"It's okay, here why don't I get you a cup of tea and you just relax.." Shigure suggested helping her up onto the couch.

But Tohru couldn't eve think of resting when Haru was in danger, she ran to her bedroom and slipped on her uniform and her bag and sprinted out the door without saying a word to Shigure.

"Here you go nice hot green tea…" Shigure paused as there was no Tohru in sight.

Tohru kept sprinting, it was raining and her hair was soaking wet but she didn't care, even if she caught a cold, the most important thing was to save Haru.

She ran around the school looking for Haru. He was nowhere in sight, she had even looked in the boys bathroom (luckily there was no one in there) The school bell rang shortly after and she attended class still wondering where Haru was. It seemed that all the Sohma's were absent, where in the world could Haru be? She thought her head hurting.

After school, she walked home by herself again and saw Shigure by the door looking upset.

"Ahh, Tohru if you wish to know, Haru never attended school today, he fell ill the moment he woke up and he's stayed in bed ever since.."

"W-what…no…why is this happening?" Tohru asked herself forgetting that Shigure was still there.

"Tohru, are you sure your alright, you better not be getting the sickness…why don't you come inside, your soaking wet and whatever you needed to tell me in the morning, you can tell me now. I'm off work nowadays as I have to look after Yuki and Kyo." Shigure took Tohru inside handing her a warm blanket and some tea.

Tohru thanked him then slowly told him about her recent dreams and how her window kept opening, her door keeps unlocking by itself, her candle going out and how she found a knife under her bed that had cut her on the arm. She had no idea how it got there and she showed him the wound. She also explained how she had tried to save Haru this morning but had failed as it was too late.

"My-my, this is such a strange story, but I do believe you. Do you need a bandage? Your wound seems quite sore." Shigure asked.

"No thanks, you've done enough for me. I think I just need to think this through. Somehow I know it's all connected. Oh and do you know a graveyard that belongs to the Sohma's or something because for the past few nights, I've dreamt of a graveyard in the background while somebody is falling sick." Tohru questioned.

"Well that is scary; there is a Sohma graveyard where Akito lives." Shigure answered.

Tohru suddenly remembered that she had passed a graveyard on the way out of the Sohma estate. She asked Shigure if he could bring her there and he agreed.

They took a taxi to the main house as the weather was still bad and rainy. This time, they entered through the main entrance, Shigure still not knowing about the secret entrance. They finally reached the gloomy grey looking graveyard. It was huge, but there was more to it than just gloominess, Tohru's eyes widened. It was the exact same graveyard as her dream.

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I decided to make chapter 3 a little longer as the stories getting more interesting. Anyway hope you liked it!  
Stay tuned for Chapter 4

Fruitylicious-Angel


	4. Chapter 4: Visions created by dreams

A/N: Already up to chapter 4 which is awesome! I love writing stories, they're just so addictive. Again, thanks for all your support by reviewing my story. Happy reading readers!

**Chapter 4 Visions created by Sleep**

"So, remind me why you wanted to come here again?" Shigure asked.

"Oh right…I dream of this graveyard every night, its kind of scary but may I ask why there is a graveyard in the main house?"

"Well you see, everyone says that this has been here for generations since all the zodiac animals and the head have been buried here." Shigure explained with a loud sigh.

"Oh well does that mean the cat is buried here too?"

"No the cat has never been buried here unfortunately." Shigure pointed out as not one of the graves said cat.

Tohru felt so sad that the cat was never accepted in the zodiac, she felt that the cat deserved to be with the other animals. She tried to enter the graveyard slowly but just as she was about to set her foot down, it felt as if there was a force-field blocking her from entering, it was so hard that it knocked her out unconscious.

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'The graveyard…Hiro…a nasty wave of fear toppled over Tohru'

Tohru opened her eyes to see Shigure sitting down next to her. She was lying on a large-sized bed in a completely different room.

"Ahhh you're awake." Shigure said breathing out as if releasing stress.

"Where am I?" Tohru said still feeling drowsy.

"You fell unconscious somehow before you could go into the graveyard and so we had to spend the night here in the main house." Shigure told her.

"Oh-umm…I had the nightmare again… Hiro's next." Tohru quivered.

"Really, are you sure?" Hiro stepped in looking at Tohru oddly.

"Hiro, you here!" Exclaimed Tohru.

"Yes, we called all of them here for safety." Shigure explained.

"What about Kyo, Yuki, Haru and Momiji?" Tohru asked.

"Hatori's taken them with him, he's asked the servants to take care of them, and they're all in the building next to ours." Said Shigure.

"Okay." Tohru was relieved, at least everyone was safe.

She then thought of the powerful force-field that had knocked her out completely like it was trying to prevent her from going into the graveyard or something.

After having breakfast, Tohru decided to take a walk in the garden near the lake where she had last seen Kureno. She sat down inside the gazebo and watched Hiro and Kisa, they looked so cute, Tohru thought as she looked away to sip her tea. She looked at the scenery around her; it was such a lovely place, the main house. Then she heard Kisa call for help after a loud splash. Tohru ran to where Hiro was last seen and she noticed him in the lake, he looked as if he was drowning.

Without thinking, she jumped in even though she knew she couldn't swim very well. She took Hiro's arm and tried to pull him up although it seemed as if his feet were glued to the bottom. Tohru's heart raced with panic. Kisa tried to reach Tohru's hand when she saw Rin jump into the water, she too grabbed Hiro's other arm and together they pulled him to the surface.

When they had dragged him safely onto the bank, he coughed for a few seconds then blacked out. Rin called for help just as Shigure and Ayame came running towards them.

"What happened here?" Ayame asked.

"Hiro, I think he's got the sickness." Tohru replied.

"Oh my, I better call Hari, stay with them Aya, I'll be right back." Shigure ran off to fetch Hatori as Ayame carried Hiro into the building. He placed him onto the bed and wrapped him in blankets as Hiro was still half wet.

"Kisa, how did he end up in the lake?" Tohru asked Kisa.

"I- we were talking and he was throwing stones in the lake, when I don't know, it felt as if this force had suddenly sucked him in, he just-just literally fell into the lake. I thought he was playing a prank on me, until I saw his face, he was gasping for air, and I didn't know what to do. Sissy, I'm so scared." Kisa started to cry as she clinged onto Tohru.

Tohru tried to comfort her the best she could. Rin had walked off to watch over Haru and Hatori was getting ready to send Hiro to the building where they kept all the sick people.

"Oh this is so terrible, and yet I thought not having any time with my dear brother Yuki was the most terrible thing but seeing him sick like this is just so heart-breaking." Ayame said dramatically.

"Poor Hiro…" Kisa said still crying non-stop.

"It's okay Kisa, we'll find a cure, I promise!" Tohru tried to sound strong when her insides were weak with agony.

Tohru felt a sickening feeling, tomorrow would be today all over again, the only difference would be someone else falling ill which is so frightening. Hiro could've died drowning and who knows who will be next. Tohru decided that she had to visit that grave even if it meant taking the risk of falling unconscious, someone had to do it. She left Kisa and walked outside towards the graveyard.

"Tohru, what are you doing here?" A voice asked.

Tohru turned around, it was Kureno.

"Oh hello Kureno, I was just…going to visit the graveyard."

"At this hour? It's pretty late and I don't think it's a good idea if you go alone, you know what happened last night could happen again." Kureno warned her.

"I know, but this graveyard is connected to this sickness thing that is going around, I'm willing to take the risks." Tohru replied trying to sound fully convinced.

"Are you sure?" Kureno questioned.

"Yes, I'm positive." Tohru put on a brave smile.

"Wait, at least let me go in first." Kureno walked into graveyard, nothing happened so Tohru felt a bit safer.

Tohru stepped in; she felt a sudden chilly breeze but no force-field. Then she spotted a figure next to a huge grave. It was a person, or a see through person. Tohru looked at Kureno then back the figure and screamed.

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Thanks for reading chapter 4

Keep posting reviews!

Fruitylicious-Angel


	5. Chapter 5: Unexplainable Reasons

A/N: Sorry if I haven't been updating as fast as usual, winter exams have been on and it's been pretty stressing. Oh and I've made my chapter extra long since chapter 4 was a little short on words. Anyway, please keep posting reviews, it would mean a lot to me and the story! Have fun reading chapter 5 and if you have any cool ideas or suggestions, feel free to post a message to me 

**Chapter 5 Unexplainable Reasons**

Was it just her imagination? Was it a ghost? Tohru didn't know. When Kureno turned around to see what she was screaming at, the transparent figure disappeared into thin air without a trace.

"Are you alright Tohru, what's wrong?" Kureno's face was suddenly full of worry.

"I-I-I saw, I saw, I think I saw a ghost." Tohru stuttered with fear.

"Pardon?" Kureno misheard her.

"I- I saw someone, or something next to that grave, it looked like…like a ghost, it appeared so suddenly, I got shocked." Tohru tried to calm down breathing heavily.

"Really? Are you sure, I don't see anything." Kureno started to get cautious looking around and examining the graves.

"I'm sure I saw it but my eyes might be playing tricks on me, I really don't know, I'm so sorry for scaring you." Tohru felt guilty.

"No I think we should get out of here." Kureno replied taking Tohru out of the graveyard quickly. Tohru looked back, she thought she saw the same figure appearing again but she tried to ignore it incase she was dreaming.

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She went to bed early that night thinking that she needed some sleep. The nightmare haunted her yet again with Kisa, the graveyard plus the figure, the transparent ghost like thing was in the background laughing. Something was definitely wrong; Tohru could feel the adrenaline rush to her head as she woke up starting to cry. She hated the dreams; she hated them so much that it made her weep tears of frustration and annoyance. She noticed as usual the window was open even though she was staying temporarily at the Sohma main house. The area around always made her feel like she was being stalked, hunted down by this striking bad luck.

She took out her gown and wore it then opened the door and walked into the hallway. She needed to see Kisa, make sure that she okay and in other words, warn her about the upcoming sickness. How she was the next victim. It was only 5:45am, way too early to be checking on Kisa, but she was so curious and not to mention, worried. She found the room that Kisa was staying in and opened the door trying not to create too much noise. Then she saw it, the figure next to Kisa, she panicked, it looked like she was taking the life out of her and Kisa, finding it hard to breath was moving rapidly gasping for air. Tohru ran to her trying to move the ghost away. The ghost disappeared and Tohru helped Kisa giving her all her comfort while Kisa coughed loudly.

"Kisa, oh my goodness, are you okay?" Tohru was very concerned.

"Sissy, I'm-I'm so frightened, this thing attacked me, it was so-so-so scary." Tears started to flood down Kisa's cheeks as she told Tohru what had happened.

"I was asleep, then I started to have these nightmares, I was so scared, I was woken up, and then I saw this ghost-like thing appear in front of me trying to kill me or something, it was if the same thing was happening to me like Hiro, the other day he was nearly drowning."

"Kisa, I will do everything I can to help, I'll stay with you for a while." As Tohru sat down next to Kisa, she started to tell Kisa her part about the constant nightmares and how Kisa was the next target. Kisa listened carefully while clutching onto a pillow tightly. Tohru knew how Kisa felt, it was heart-breaking that one by one, the Sohma's were catching the sickness and yet nobody knew how to stop it.

Tohru went to the kitchen to find a glass of water for Kisa; she opened the fridge door hoping that she wouldn't need permission as this was kind of an emergency. As she walked back she heard a loud thump. She ran to Kisa's room finding her on the floor like a still puppet. Tohru tried to wake Kisa up but she couldn't. She started to cry softly as she called for help. Hatori came running in his pyjamas and suddenly stopped when he saw Kisa.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Tohru wailed.

"What happened, has she got the sickness too?" Hatori asked.

"I was with her, she-she was thirsty so I got her a glass of water and when I came back, she was, she was like this." Tohru pointed to Kisa's body while she herself was shaking non stop.

"It's not your fault, let me take her to the ward in the building next door with the other's, can you please call Shigure, Kureno or anyone you can find." Hatori said carrying Kisa and walking off.

Tohru went to fetch one of the elder Sohma's as she checked every room. She finally found the room that Ayame was in and knocked on the door loudly feeling guilty for having to wake Ayame up.

Ayame opened the door half asleep looking at Tohru oddly then looking at the clock.

"Tohru, why it's very early in the morning, what's going on?" He questioned.

"Kisa, she has the sickness, Hatori asked me to call you." Tohru told Ayame as he frowned.

"Oh dear, what terrible news, I'll go call Shigure right now, if you could call Kureno……"

"I'm on it!" Tohru cut in on her way to find Kureno while Ayame went the opposite direction to Shigure's room.

Ayame burst into Shigure's room and woke him up without hesitation.

"Wh-what? Aya, it's not time to get up yet." Shigure groaned.

"Shigure, wake up, I've got bad news, Kisa has the sickness! We are in danger and you need to come with me." Ayame said still trying to get Shigure out of bed.

"Oh-oh, help me up will you." Ayame pulled Shigure along as they met up with Tohru and Kureno.

"Is everything alright?" A puzzled Ritsu came out of his bedroom.

"Kisa has the sickness." Hatori said shortly.

"Oh dear, this is horrifying, what shall we do, can I help? I'm sorry, I never wanted this to happen, please tell me what I must do to help." Ritsu started to run around the room waving his arms madly.

"Calm down Ri." Shigure poked Ritsu in the hip while he sunk into a trance.

"Wow, the magic touch really does work anywhere, anytime." Shigure congratulated himself as Hatori snapped Shigure back into reality.

As all five people sat down in the living room, Tohru explained to them her dreams early this morning and how Kisa was unable to breathe due to the mysterious ghost that was haunting them. Kureno, Ayame, Shigure and Ritsu listened with interest while Hatori arrived after settling Kisa down in the nearby 'home hospital'. As the doctor, Hatori was still troubled not knowing what the sickness was. He couldn't identify it as it was just so unexpected.

"Tohru, do you know who is next?" Shigure asked.

"No at least not until I fall asleep tonight but I'm afraid it might be too late." Tohru answered sadly.

"Well, I think it's rather fair that we gather Kagura and Rin and Akito, it's way too risky to leave them alone. Besides those three are the only ones who could be in danger if you don't include us." Hatori stated.

"True, True." Ayame and Ritsu nodded.

"Tohru, is it alright if you sleep in the same room as Kagura and Rin tonight, I need to convince them to trust us now that we've already got six people under the sickness, we don't want to lose anymore." Kureno explained with a serious expression.

"Yes, I'll make sure everyone is accompanied by somebody else, who knows what could happen." Ritsu agreed.

"The only thing is…I can't figure out why…well Momiji and Kyo were in public when this happened, they were in front of a lot of people, I'm not sure having company will be the solution." Tohru remembered what had happened less than a week ago.

"You are absolutely right, we really need to find a cure or else I'm afraid this could be getting really serious." Hatori pointed out.

As their meeting finished, the clock read 7am. Kagura and Rin came downstairs for breakfast while Tohru told them the news. Rin looked angry and Kagura looked shocked.

"How dare that ghost bastard, all because of that damn thing, Haru's in intensive care, I'm not letting this happen anymore, we gotta stop it." Rin banged her fist on the table causing everyone to jump.

"Rin, calm down." Kagura looked at Rin.

"How do you expect me to calm down when there's this thing walking around our house stalking us and watching our every move, it's not only freaky but it's disgusting. I'll do whatever it takes to rid that rotten thing!" Exclaimed Rin as she pushed her chair in too far making a loud noise.

"Well, it is scary, poor Kyo; I'd do anything for him too. As long as he's sick, I'll never be happy." Said Kagura.

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Meanwhile Kureno walked to Akito's building looking for him and trying to convince Akito to stay by his side temporarily until they had gotten rid of the sickness. He reached Akito's room and knocked.

"Enter." A voice called out.

Kureno slid the door open and went inside taking a seat on the mat.

"Kureno, what brings you here?" Akito said in his not so welcoming voice that gave a slight tense feeling in the air.

"Akito, the sickness has struck Kisa, I'm afraid it's no longer safe that you stay here alone. I and the others suggest you come stay with us in our building until we can figure this out. We don't want to lose you to the sickness. Please consider this." Kureno told Akito firmly.

"How thoughtful." Akito chuckled.

Kureno stayed silent as he was still expecting a reasonable reply from Akito, he sat there looking directly at Akito meaning he was serious.

"I do not wish to share the same building with you people especially if that Tohru or Rin is there. There is no way I'm speaking to them."

"But Akito, it's for your safety and your health." Kureno protested.

"What does it matter? I'm going to die anyway, I'm going to die early and you people live for as long as you like, do you have no consideration about me being sick all the time? Or do you only worry because that Tohru does." Akito smirked in disbelief.

"Akito, don't say these kind of things, even if you are destined to die, we still want to give you a fair chance so you can try to live longer than you should." Kureno replied.

"Haha, very funny Kureno. The zodiac animals have never cared for me."

"That's not true. Akito, we aren't forcing you into staying in the same building as us, it's just for your safety but if you really don't want to then, I think I should be going."

"Right…go, I don't care." Akito replied in a careless tone.

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I hope you enjoyed chapter 5, I've tried to make it as long as possible. Chapter 6 will be here soon.

Fruitylicious-Angel


	6. Chapter 6: Predict the next victim

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who posted a review! Enjoy chapter 6

**Chapter 6 Predict the next victim**

Before Kureno exited he looked back at Akito.

"One more thing, Akito, the Sohma main house is haunted." And with that Kureno walked off.

Akito sat there motionless. 'Haunted? What in the world could Kureno mean?' he asked himself. Akito looked outside at the graveyard, it looked fine to him. Then he froze, his eyes lay on Ryoichi's grave, it was missing. He went downstairs and entered the graveyard looking desperately for Ryoichi's grave, but it was gone. He called to one of his servants.

"There's a grave missing!" Akito exclaimed.

"Master, sorry but I don't know what you're talking about." The servant replied.

"Oh forget it!" Akito replied rudely.

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That night Tohru prepared a large room for Rin, Kagura and herself. She placed three mattresses next to each other and pulled down the curtains. She made the room more comfortable by adding warm blankets and puffy pillows. She also placed a vase of assorted fresh flowers in the room to lighten it up a bit. Rin came in wearing a black and purple night gown.

"Nice work." She complimented Tohru as she looked around smiling.

"Why thank you." Tohru replied happily.

"So are you skipping school these days?" Rin asked randomly.

Tohru's eyes widened. "Oh my goodness, I completely forgot about school, oh I've missed more than 2 days, what am I going to do?" She started to panic with her head low with misery.

"Relax will ya? Everyone's skipping school because of that bloody sickness, I don't even think I could care less about school right now, not when I see Haru …like that…" She paused on Haru's name.

Tohru put her arm around Rin. "It's okay, we'll get through this, Haru and the others will too. I promised Kisa I'd help as much as I could, I'm willing to do all I can to find a cure or put an end to this, and we just need to work together."

"It's not like I doubt that or anything, I'm fine, I'm just angry at that darn illness." Rin said throwing her pillow across the room giving Kagura a fright as she walked in.

"Watch it Rin!" Kagura groaned.

Rin ignored her purposely and carried on talking when Kagura interrupted her by throwing Rin's pillow back at her.

"Damn it Kagura, what was that for?" Rin said accusingly.

"People could trip over that pillow." Kagura answered coldly.

"That's only if their klutzes." Rin said scornfully.

"Umm…how about we go to sleep now, I don't know about you two but I'm tired and I think we need some early sleep." Tohru tried to change the subject causing Rin and Kagura to forget about their mini argument.

"I guess…" Rin puffed up her pillow as Kagura went to turn off the light. Tohru laid her blanket out evenly so she could sleep comfortably. She prayed that the nightmares would vanish within that night, besides Rin and Kagura were right next to her; there was hardly anything to worry about.

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Kagura woke up yawning loudly making a loud ruffle as she got up from bed causing her to bump into Rin which made Rin wake up. Tohru was woken up by hearing Rin and Kagura arguing yet again.

"You just had to be so inconsiderate and unmindful waking me up like that, I was having a good dream and you ruined it." Rin sounded even more fierce in the early hours of the day.

Tohru looked at the clock; it was 9:15am, so they had all slept in a little. She lay back in bed day-dreaming while Kagura and Rin continued their morning argument.

"It's not my fault you only fall _half asleep._" Kagura pointed out.

"I do not!" Rin stood up giving Kagura the evil eye.

"Do too!" Kagura replied.

Tohru decided that she'd get up to make breakfast when she remembered that she herself had a wonderful sleep. No nightmares, no images, none whatsoever. Tohru suddenly waved her arms in the air and grinned. Kagura and Rin looked at Tohru as if she was mental.

"You won't believe this, I didn't have a nightmare! You two are safe!"

"What?" Rin and Kagura said in unison.

"It's true, I'm so happy!" Tohru exclaimed.

"You girls alright in here? It sounds like excitement." Shigure's head popped out of nowhere.

"Oh Shigure, it's wonderful, I didn't have a nightmare." Tohru told him as Shigure listened making sure he was hearing the right words.

"Well that's great news, I'll tell Aya and Hari right away." He ran off as Tohru could hear him calling out Ayame and Hatori's name out loud. Tohru sighed, it had been a while since she actually had some peaceful sleep and now that she knew Kagura and Rin would be safe, life would be less frustrating.

She decided to visit all the sick people; Kyo, Yuki, Momiji, Haru, Hiro and Kisa. Her face fell when she noticed that they were in the exact same condition as they were the previous days. Tohru sat down next to Kyo's bed as she held onto his hand tightly.

"How are you Kyo? I promise you I will find a way to remove the illness. Please stay strong for the time being, I'm trying my best." Tohru told him even though she wasn't sure if he could hear her or not.

She left the building making her way into the kitchen finding a beautiful set of food laid out on the table for eight people. She stared in amazement. Who made all this food? She browsed the selection. There were lemon pancakes, rice balls, eggs, sponge cake, orange juice, muffins and more. Tohru's eyes lit up and her mouth started to water. Then she spotted Kureno behind the Kitchen counter cooking.

"Good morning Tohru." He greeted her with a friendly face.

"Morning Kureno, wow did you make all this food?" Tohru questioned.

Kureno nodded. "This is incredible, you are such a good cook and I never realised until now." Tohru admired the table.

"Dig in; I'll just call the others to come eat." Kureno signalled her.

"Thank you so much." Tohru sat down and started to drink her orange juice as Shigure, Ayame, Hatori, Ritsu, Rin and Kagura arrived and took a seat along with Kureno. They ate without hesitation as the food was irresistible both in presentation and taste.

"This is delicious Kureno, why I was so surprised, are you sure you didn't ask for the cook's help?" Shigure asked with a goofy grin.

"No, I have my own cook book." Kureno replied proudly.

"So Tohru, I've heard that you didn't have a nightmare last night." Hatori looked at Tohru.

"It is true, it's a good thing though, and I never thought I'd get rid of those horrid dreams until now." Tohru gleamed.

A few seconds after Tohru spoke, Kagura suddenly started to choke on her food, she coughed and coughed as Rin who was sitting next to her, tried to help her breath by whacking her on the back hard. Everybody crowded around Kagura, Hatori trying to figure out what to do. Rin noticed Kagura's eyes had started to water as she needed air, her face had become a shade of blue. By the time they had gotten Kagura to breathe, she passed out shortly making it obvious that she had also caught the sickness.

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I hope chapter 6 was enjoyable. Chapter 7 might be a delay as I still have upcoming exams, but I'm thankful as this is the last week of term 2, next week is the holidays and I'd be spending some holiday time in Melbourne and Alice Springs, Australia. Have fun and 'Be safe'

Fruitylicious-Angel


	7. Chapter 7: Disaster Strikes

A/N: Hi fanfic friends! I hope you don't find my story too confusing, if you do, send me a message and I'll help you through with that so relax and have fun reading chapter 7!

**Chapter 7 Disaster Strikes**

Tohru started to stutter. "But I don't understand, I-I never saw this coming, how could this happen?"

"Its okay, let's just calm down. Kureno, if you could help me get Kagura to the ward." Hatori lifted Kagura up and made his way outside.

Tohru looked at Rin; Rin's usual tough and fearless image had just gone down the drain, but who could blame her, it's not like Tohru wasn't scared, Tohru was dead frightened, not to mention the absence of her nightmare was a fake. Tohru and the others had just set their hopes up too high.

"What are we going to do? For all we know I could be next…" Ayame spoke up, ruining the silence.

"I'm not so sure either Aya, it's terrible, it's just so terrible." Shigure replied in agony.

"We have to do something; we can't just sit here and be lazy!" Rin shouted as she got up and walked off obviously in a bad temper.

"My, my… Rin are you having a temper tantrum again? Don't assume we're not trying, we're just out of ideas." Shigure pointed out.

"Ahhhh, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, it's all because of me, I'm not thinking hard enough, oh why does this brain always function to its worst, I'm so sorry, please forgive me." Ritsu burst out making everyone jump.

"Ri…don't jump to conclusions like that, it's not your fault now stop panicking." Shigure said with a heavy sigh.

"I'm afraid the Sohma main house isn't very safe anymore, Akito just reported to me that Ryoichi's grave is missing." Hatori spoke as he entered the room.

"Oh my, really? So do you think Ryoichi's the one doing all these awful things and causing trouble for us?" Ayame asked.

"Well that is a little farfetched but it's possible." Hatori answered bluntly surprised that Ayame's imagination could think that far, he had always thought Ayame was a little thick sometimes.

"So what are we doing? We need to get out of here, it's far too dangerous." Shigure cut in.

"No, we are going to stay here and solve this, even if it is the case that this place is haunted, so is your house Shigure, I think we should just look out for any mysterious things." Kureno tried to say the sentence strongly so he could motivate them.

"Okay." All of them agreed as the maids started to clean the table.

Tohru and Rin walked back to their room, once they entered, they both froze instantly. Rin swore silently as Tohru's heart began to race. The bed sheets were stained with blood and ripped apart, there were pillows that were torn apart and the window was wide open. Tohru turned the light on to get a better view but the light was broken into tiny fragments on the floor. Then suddenly it started to rain heavily outside, the sound of thunder and the sight of lightning appeared in front of them.

Tohru's body turned to ice as she discovered the ghost behind the window. She tugged on Rin's sleeve and pointed to the ghost. Rin looked straight ahead and she fainted, it seemed as thought Rin herself couldn't handle the sight of seeing a ghost for the first time in her life. Tohru would never think that ghosts existed, but then again, she wouldn't have thought of the Sohma curse either. She tried to wake Rin up as she could hear the ghost laughing out words of cruelty. She turned towards the ghost and tried to be brave.

"Why are you treating us this way? What is your problem? What did we ever do to you? Leave us alone! Do you think it's funny to make other people suffer?" Tohru demanded.

The ghost didn't reply, instead he just gave her an evil smile and disappeared. Tohru closed the window then called Hatori who just happened to be next door.

"What happened? Is Rin sick?" Hatori rushed over.

"No, she just fainted, Hatori…I …I saw the ghost and so did Rin." Tohru admitted feeling goose bumps as she mentioned the word ghost.

"Are you sure? Really?" Hatori turned to look around the room.

"No, he's gone now, but I swear…"

Hatori interrupted her as he saw the state of the room. "Who in the world did this?" He asked as he took the torn sheets and saw the blood.

Tohru explained what had happened just less than two minutes ago, the sight of the room, the open window, the sudden downpour of rain, thunder and lightning and the appearance of the ghost.

"Did you see what the ghost looked like?" Hatori asked Tohru.

"Well, he was wearing these really old fashioned clothes, umm… his hair…well I don't know how to describe his hair, but do you think he could be the ghost of the dead person with the grave missing?" Tohru thought as she remembered that she had seen the ghost next to the grave that was now missing.

"That's what I was thinking, you know Ayame could be right, follow me." Hatori gestured towards the living room.

Tohru followed Hatori as he place Rin on the couch and covered her with blankets to keep her warm. He brought Tohru a glass of water.

"So overall, are you okay? You don't seem that surprised to see a ghost, I mean Rin here fainted." Hatori said as he took a seat on the couch next to Tohru.

"This isn't the first time I've seen that ghost, he's been around me for a while, I'm just afraid that he might do something to us that is worse than just illnesses and I still wonder who's blood that belonged to, on the sheets, Ryoichi sure knows how to cause a mess in the room." Tohru replied without a care that she was insulting Ryoichi. She was just so mad, she just couldn't be sorry for what she had just said.

Hatori was amazed; this was the first time he had ever heard Tohru being impolite. He figured that this was just all too much for her. Shigure and Ayame arrived with pale faces.

"What is up with you two, you look a bit white." Hatori stated.

"We saw it." They both replied with blank expressions.

"Saw what?" Hatori asked.

"A ghost!" They're voice became squeaky.

"Why am I the only one who hasn't seen it?" Hatori asked himself out loud feeling frustrated that everyone else had seen Ryoichi.

"It's incredible, it really is a ghost, me and Aya were watching t.v when it just appeared in front of us for like…a few seconds." Shigure explained excitedly.

"It's a bad thing you know, and plus what were you two doing watching t.v when I was in my office trying to find a cure for the illness, while you guys goof around when you could help by looking after Rin here." Hatori said trying to remove the migraine in his head.

"Why…Hari, don't sound so angry…oh what's wrong with Rin?" Ayame asked as he spotted Rin on the couch looking like she was having an afternoon nap. He waved his hand in front of her face and waited for a reaction.

"She saw the ghost too and fainted." Tohru told Ayame and Shigure.

"That is scary; you know I always thought Ryoichi was a nice old man." Shigure confessed.

"Apart from his ghost form you've never even met him." Hatori replied.

Then Tohru turned around and saw Rin gaining consciousness. She ran to Rin's side to check that she was okay. Rin looked at Tohru oddly.

"What am I doing?" She asked Tohru.

"Umm…the ghost…"

"Oh…was that thing really a ghost, oh my god, it was freaky…and yet I thought they only existed in stories, but I guess I was wrong" Rin exclaimed.

"We've found out that thing is the ghost of Ryoichi Sohma, the first head of the Sohma clan. His grave is missing as well, we have to stop him from causing more damage or else things could get worse." Hatori told Rin.

"Ok, this is too much; I'm going to get a panadol." Rin replied getting up to open the medicine cupboard.

Just then, Rin felt a sharp pain in her leg, it was so painful she was unable to walk. A few seconds after she fell to the floor and the whole world became a blur.

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Thanks for reading Chapter 7!  
LOL, by means of saying chapter 7 was going to be a delay, I think I meant chapter 8.

Oh well, hope you liked this chapter.

Fruitylicious-Angel


	8. Chapter 8: The Devil Within

A/N: Hey girls and maybe guys! I hope you like how my story is going so far, I'm trying to make it spookier. Please keep sending reviews in just to make sure that you like the story. (For people who haven't reviewed yet but if you want to review more, your welcome to) THANKS 

**Chapter 8 The Devil within **

Akito took a step into the cold as he made his way to the graveyard. He sniggered as he thought of Tohru. She deserves to suffer; it's her own fault that all of this is happening. He looked at the spot where Ryoichi's grave was previously placed. He wondered if his wish did come true, sure Tohru was suffering but he never expected the Jyunishi to be dying. He heard that a spirit or a ghost was roaming around the place haunting the Sohma main house.

Just as he tried to exit, a heavy weight pushed him back and a strong gust of wind blew on his face until it hurt. He opened his eyes slightly to reveal a glance of a transparent figure. His eyes widened. Could this be the ghost of Ryoichi like Hatori had said? The force calmed down and the ghost came nearer.

"Are you-are you Ryoichi Sohma?" Akito stuttered as he asked still afraid of what the ghost could do to him although he knew that Ryoichi could not hurt him since Akito himself respected the first leader.

The ghost of Ryoichi ignored his question. "Hahaha, you are so foolish, you are willing to trade your life for the life of the zodiac animals."

"What, what are you talking about?" Akito frowned.

"Do you not realise the damage you have done, you are supposed to be dead now Akito, your time here has merely passed its limits. By using the energy of the zodiac animals, you are living an extended life. Now all because of you, they are living lives of misery while being pulled down by a serious sickness. You are so inconsiderate it's not even funny. Why I even sacrificed my life along with the other leaders of the Sohma clan and you are the first to destroy the chain." Ryoichi smirked looking mad.

"I never wished for this to happen…I had no clue, this is completely NOT my fault, you're the one who's going around the place killing people or nearly killing them, you're the one who's haunting this place, you're the one who's causing damage to the bond between god and the zodiac!" Akito shouted at the ghost.

"Akito, Akito, Akito, It was you who honestly said that it was Tohru's fault, you wished for this to happen and I granted your wish by ridding the zodiac one by one and Tohru Honda.

"I never said I wanted to get rid of the zodiac!" Answered Akito.

"Maybe not but your heart did." Ryoichi boomed.

"Well what do you want me to do huh? Wish for this all to go away?" Akito yelled but soon realised that Ryoichi had gone in less than a second leaving Akito angry and flustered.

'There is no way that this is my fault, nobody has any proof, I am not trading my life in for the zodiac animal's, all I wanted was for this damn Tohru Honda to stay away from me and the jyunishi. This is all Ryoichi's doing, not mine.' Akito thought as he spotted Ryoichi's grave back in its place. He ran and kicked it with all his might, then used rocks and started to throw them at the grave.

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Meanwhile a nearby maid spotted Ryoichi with Akito; she was frightened but her curiosity overpowered her fear. She took a step closer as she listened to their conversation behind the hedge. Her heart throbbed just as she heard what they were saying. She sneaked back to the house quietly making sure that Akito could not see her.

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Tohru helped Hatori with Rin as she tucked her in bed. It was so depressing; Rin was the only young Sohma left, now it's just Kureno, Shigure, Hatori, Ayame and timid Ritsu. Their only hope left was for Hatori to find a cure unless…something else would come to mind.

"Tohru can I speak to you for a moment?" Hatori called out to her.

"Oh yea of course." Tohru woke up from her own thoughts and walked towards Hatori.

"Kyo…he's…dying."

Tohru's whole body turned into cold hard ice as she heard the word dying and the word Kyo. Less than a minute, she started to cry, her eyes swelling up becoming puffy and red. She couldn't care less about being embarrassed right now, she was devastated.

"Why……are you sure? How do you know?" Tohru asked Hatori her voice shallow with sadness.

"He's the first to become sick, I'm afraid he's getting worse and it looks to me that he's dying. This isn't something I can cure unless we can find a solution. But in the meantime, I'm…utterly troubled, I can't seem to figure out what is going on. To make it worse, I think Yuki could be in the dying stage next. I'm sorry Tohru but I don't know what I can do to help." Hatori spoke as his eyes began to water.

'This can't be happening, I can't let this happen, I won't let this happen.' Tohru's tears turned into anger as she grabbed Kyo's limp hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I am going to make sure that you get better, I won't let you die Kyo, I won't and I never will so please stay strong, fight the sickness, It won't be long till I can hear your voice again. Please… please, hold on just a little longer." Tohru cried out to Kyo hoping that he could at least hear her.

She then turned to Yuki and held onto his hand breathing the same words to him. Hatori watched helplessly as he sat down with his head in his hands. The pain was unstable. He was the doctor and knowing that he couldn't do anything to save them had just made him feel guilty and selfish.

Tohru then heard a few footsteps come into the building as she saw Ayame, Shigure and Kureno looking as if they had just run a mile. Right behind them appeared Ritsu with a short plump maid with curly hair. She too looked as if she had run a series of marathons.

"What's going on?" Ayame asked.

"Well…Kyo…he's dying and so is everyone else." Tohru told them as her eyes started to hurt from tears.

"That is……" Kureno left his sentence unfinished as he spotted Hatori looking gloomy. The last time they had ever seen Hatori like that was when he had to erase Kana's memory and that had hurt him deep. But still memories scarred him like permanent wounds and now he would have an additional loss. Kyo, unless there was a miracle.

"Well, it think we have some news you might want to know about, if you don't mind us interrupting." Ritsu said quietly.

"Yes…what is it?" Tohru gave a small amount of hope praying that the news would help save Kyo and the others.

"Okay, well Naoko works here as a full time maid. She saw the ghost…of Ryoichi and she overheard a conversation between him and Akito." Shigure explained to them.

Naoko the maid told them in detail what Akito and the ghost of Ryoichi had said in the previous conversation not so long ago, she even wrote down notes on a piece of paper thinking that this was so important that Tohru and the others just had to know.

Hatori and Tohru's heart leaped as they heard about the part where Ryoichi had said that Akito was willing to trade his life in for the zodiac animals and that Akito's life would have been over if it weren't for the jyunishi. Tohru was a little surprised that the maid knew about the curse but then again, the maid had been working here for more than ten years, who couldn't know?

"Oh dear… do you know what this means at all?" Kureno asked breaking the silence. Shigure nodded with struggle.

"Why…what does this mean?" Tohru questioned still a little confused.

"Tohru, I'm afraid we have just found the solution to curing Kyo and the others." Hatori said with his head still hanging low.

Tohru thought that they would've been happy but their faces were still blank and stressed. She wondered what in the world they had just meant. She didn't even realise that she had a bright grin on her face. She ran to Kyo's side and looked at him happily.

"Kyo, you are going to be fine, we're going to save you!" She exclaimed.

"Um…Tohru…I know this is good news but it is also bad news." Ayame pointed out looking at Tohru oddly.

"What's wrong?" Tohru asked.

"You do realise that if we save Kyo and the others, someone has to pay the debt, someone else has to die…" Shigure told her slowly.

"Who?" Tohru questioned.

"I believe it is Akito," said Ritsu bluntly.

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Did ya like chapter 8?  
Thanks for reading!

Fruitylicious-Angel


	9. Chapter 9: The World Ain't all Light

Hi! Finally finished my exams (so happy!) and excited that holidays start soon. Well here's chapter 9 so don't hesitate to read (as if) LOL

**The world ain't all light**

"This-this doesn't make sense…it's- it's…" Tohru said quietly.

"Tohru, I'm afraid it is true and according to Naoko, it's the only way that we can save them. Either way we have to make a decision between Akito and the others." Shigure told her sternly.

"I'm not trying to be rude but did Akito really want to trade his life in for the jyuniishi? Sorry but it just doesn't sound like something that he would do; I mean it's so strange."

"I agree but people are capable of almost anything nowadays and right now I don't have any idea how we can solve this problem, it leaves me no choice but to…"

"I don't trust Akito." Ritsu cut in as the others looked at him surprisingly as Ritsu was normally the shy and timid one; but right now he looked as serious and confident as ever which was definitely not normal.

"Why Ri, you're…" Shigure paused as Ritsu interrupted him again.

"Akito has been doing harm to us all these years and I apologise for saying this but he is self-centred and well, I think that he would do anything, or wish for anything just to live." Ritsu explained.

"Ritsu, that isn't very polite but I guess you do make your point quite clear, I think we should pay Akito a visit and clear things up." Kureno said as Ritsu walked out of the door instead of doing one of his normal panics which would usually involve a huge bunch of apologies.

"Kureno, why don't you get Shigure and Ayame to go with you, I'll stay here with Tohru and look after the patients." Hatori suggested.

"Sure thing Hari, come on Shigure, Kureno, let's go say hi to Akito." Ayame said with a little less confidence than usual.

"Hatori, if Akito is really willing to trade his life for all of the jyuniishi then does that include…you or Shigure, or Ayame?" Tohru questioned hoping that she was wrong.

"There's a possibility but I won't count on it we'll get this done before the sickness can reach somebody else, besides the sickness only happens once a day right?" Hatori said making his way into his office.

Tohru didn't reply, she wasn't sure yet as Rin had fell sick just a few hours after Kagura but on average it was once a day. Tohru looked around the ward; it was such a cold and deserted place even though it was full of eight people all sick in bed. They seemed to be in a coma, a deep sleep while others were just unable to move a lot since they were so sick.

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As Kureno, Ayame and Shigure entered Akito's room, he was nowhere to be found. They looked around and heard him talking to somebody; they took a peek behind the corner and noticed Akito talking to the ghost.

"Well since the other's already know of your stupidity why don't you give in, tell me would you prefer to live longer with all the jyuniishi dead or would you choose to follow the footsteps of others and die for the animals of the zodiac?" They heard Ryoichi say as Akito's face turned into what looked like rage.

"Will you quit it? I never said…"

"You don't have much time Akito now make your decision!" said Ryoichi.

"Well even if the jyuniishi die, don't I deserve to live? I have had the role of god and head of the Sohma family so they should die for me, what do I care?" Akito burst out soon spotting Shigure's distorted face behind the door. He gasped, knowing that Shigure had overheard him and Ryoichi's discussion.

"Very well, you have made your choice clear, the zodiac animals will die one by one because of you. I hope you are ashamed of yourself." Ryoichi declared slowing fading.

"Wait…Ryoichi, come back, there's still something…!"

As Ryoichi disappeared, Kureno came out of the corner and looked at Akito with disappointment. Ayame and Shigure followed with their heads hanging low, they never expected that Akito would ever do such a thing but they had just witnessed a series of selfishness and drama.

"Kureno, Shigure, Ayame, forgive me, I didn't mean what I had just said." Akito protested as they started to turn away from Akito. It was no use, they had heard everything and now the jyuniishi was going to die. Kureno, Shigure and Ayame had just seen and heard the true Akito, what the real Akito would say from the heart was just so self-centred they couldn't help but agree with Ritsu.

They walked separate ways as Shigure walked towards the exit of the main house, Ayame took the route to the lake and Kureno decided to tell Tohru and Hatori what had happened. Without a word, they felt as if the world had turned on them, they were going to die without a doubt and all because of the head of the Sohma family whom they thought would've been far nobler than that. They trusted Akito and he had partly betrayed them, not because he wanted to live but because he couldn't care less about the zodiac animals who were meant to be family. Kureno opened the creaking door to the ward and sat down without making eye contact with neither Hatori nor Tohru.

"Kureno…what's wrong, how did the discussion with Akito go?" Tohru asked looking at Kureno concerned about his grave expression.

"Tohru, I'm sorry, Akito…he has chosen himself over us, we're all going to die, I am so sorry…Kyo, Yuki, everyone is going to die because… well because Akito wants to live." Kureno had his head in his hands as he confessed Akito's discussion with Ryoichi the ghost.

"How could, are you sure…oh dear, this can't be happening, all of the zodiac animals are going to die, why that's not fair." Tohru jumped up all of a sudden. She had only known them for a year, she wanted to know the Sohma's more, get to be friends with each and every one of them and now she wouldn't even get the chance.

"So are you saying Akito is leaving us here to die?" Hatori asked half stunned yet not fully convinced that Akito would do such a thing.

"Well…I wouldn't put it in that phrase but basically it's true, ask Shigure or Ayame if you don't believe me." Kureno replied.

"Oh, trust me I'd rather ask you than those two hooligans, by the way where are they, aren't we supposed to be doing something about this, I mean, I know we're going to die but…"

"Shigure, I'm not so sure and Ayame has gone off to the lake for a walk I guess he just needs some time to himself, I mean he loves himself so I don't think he likes the idea of dying." Kureno cut in.

"Frankly, I believe you there." Hatori tried to laugh although he was feeling a little depressed.

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Tohru had to do something, she just had to. She would never let all of them die just like that, without trying at least. Her head hurt from thinking too much, her brain felt like it was about to burst. She had to convince Akito to do something.

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Two hours passed as Tohru had made a visit to Akito's building, she had tried to persuade him to help but he only replied with cold brutal words, it seemed that Akito hated her so much, Tohru couldn't help but feel that she had done something wrong. It made Tohru discover a new emotion inside of her, rage, anger and fury.

The night passed slowly, Tohru's nightmares started to come back as she dreamt of Ritsu falling ill and Kyo…with a heart attack and Yuki bleeding heavily! Tohru woke up with sweat and tears down her face, she wanted to stop it so badly, she couldn't fall asleep, this nightmare had to be the worst, it just had to. Her heart was pumping so loud she could even hear it in the silent room. Ayame, Kureno and Hatori were in the room next to her and they still had no clue where Shigure had gone. It was kind of scary, everyone was going mad, having dramatic mood changes and hearts were being torn apart with definite sorrow. She also wondered where Ritsu had gone; she had to find him, what if he had already gotten the sickness? What if the heart attack had reached Kyo seconds after her dream? She got dressed quickly and ran to wake up the others.

"Tohru, did you have a nightmare again? Is everything okay?" Ayame asked barely awake stretching his arms out and yawning.

"Ritsu's going to catch the sickness, Kyo's going to have a heart attack and Yuki's going to bleed to death." Tohru answered.

"Oh…no, so it's true, we are going to die…" Ayame held his head low while Kureno and Hatori got up and grabbed Ayame as they all went outside. Hatori and Ayame went to the ward while Kureno took Tohru to look for Ritsu and Shigure. Ayame was going to look for Shigure; his best friend but decided against it when he remembered Tohru had said Yuki was going to die soon by unstoppable bleeding. The thought went through Ayame like a thousand knives. It was unbearable; his little brother was soon going to lose his life just like Ayame.

He reached the ward with Hatori as they noticed Yuki, he looked fine apart from his arm, and it had started to bleed as they saw numerous cuts on Yuki's arm. Ayame made a loud yell as Hatori went to his office to search for bandages. The nurses had disappeared when they were meant to be watching over the patients, Hatori knew he could no longer rely on anyone but himself. He tied the bandages around Yuki's arm when Ayame gave another sound of fear. Hatori looked in his direction, Yuki's leg had started to bleed, somehow, it was unexplainable, it was amazing, it was……frightening. Hatori ran back and grabbed another handful of bandages but when he came back, Yuki's hand was scratched badly. Ayame looked like he was going to faint, this was too much, way too much. Hatori could only hope for the best, do what he could and try to save the others.

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Kureno and Tohru took out their torches and searched the gardens, the lake and the graveyard but there was no sign of Ritsu.

"Kureno, I'm afraid…this…is beyond my control, I don't want anybody to die, I'm sick of having to see people suffer, it's painful, I hate it and how can we prevent this from happening?" Tohru asked cheeks burning with despair.

"Tohru, I can't answer that question but I can tell you, I'm afraid too, never in my life has anything like this happened to me." Kureno replied his voice shallow as can be.

When they found him, it was too late; his body was sprawled on Akito's porch outside of his room. Tohru and Kureno ran to Ritsu and felt his heartbeat, it was slow, a sign of bad health and a sign of close death. It was way too much for her to bear. Tohru's heart felt twisted as it was no longer the warm, beating, happy heart as normal but it had changed to a cold as ice, hard as rock heart. She had felt an urge, a deep and powerful urge coming to her. The urge was to get rid of a certain person, of course you may have guessed but Tohru wanted to get rid of Akito, the faster, the better.

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Yay, it's a great feeling to finish chapter 9.  
I might be able to update in Australia but we'll have to see.

Once again, thanks for reading, please review.

Fruitylicious-Angel


	10. Chapter 10: Good or Evil

Hello! I'm writing from Aussie right now and believe me, things can get so hectic when your traveling so don't be surprised if this chapter is somewhat 'different' or a bit 'depressing'. Please review if you can, I love reading reviews a lot. Lol!

Well relax and have fun reading Midnight Phantom chapter 10.

**Chapter 10 Good or Evil**

It had appeared to be true that everyone was getting more furious, becoming stressed, turning abnormal and choosing to change to the opposite directions and decisions. It had now affected Tohru Honda, the girl who you would normally see walking around with a goofy but pleasing grin on her face that would make everyone around her feel comfortable and welcome, had become even more paranoid, bad tempered and rough-mannered. It had occurred to her now that she was in her so called 'evil form' she recognized Akito as a filthy, rotten scandal and she would do anything just to save the zodiac animals from dying from the sickness that the scumbag had caused. Kureno looked at her scornful face, he could understand her being mad at Akito for kind of betraying them as he felt the exact same thing when he first heard the news but now that the anger had left him a little, he tried his best to forgive Akito although he knew it was very difficult.

This only left Tohru, Kureno, Ayame and Hatori whilst Shigure was still missing. They had started to get worried, Shigure always came home, well actually he hardly went out, as in he hardly left home. Maybe he went back to his own house but still, it was kind of scary, they hadn't heard from him for a long time. Ayame was still in the ward with Hatori, he was visiting Yuki after Tohru's extreme deathly nightmare.

While Kureno took Ritsu to the hospital wing to lie him in bed, Tohru went into her room; she then screamed as she spotted a dead rat lying by her windowsill, right next to the dead rat was a green infested powder. An idea shot to Tohru's head as she called one of the maids to clean up the mess. She ran out of the room in tears as her 'good side' came back to life for only a short period. Kyo, Yuki and everybody else was going to die, Hatori had recently told her that Yuki has already started to bleed non-stop and Kyo had a weak heart rate, the sign of death was incredible and it scared Tohru to death knowing that she would lose another person that she loved, her mother, her father had gone, now even one of her zodiac friends could be next. But the thing that bugged her was the future. How could she even think of that idea? But she knew that she couldn't sit there and watch them die, as soon as her eyes shot to the rat, she realized that she had to do something that would've been impossible in her 'good' form but she couldn't bear the frustration.

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Akito's P.O.V

My life is getting more miserable every minute, I'm supposed to die but with the zodiac's energy, I'm living right here, while they die themselves, I deserve to die. Everyone is going to hate me if I let the jyuniishi die, everyone. But they can't, I'm god, they have to obey me…..What am I doing? I am lost in my own thoughts, I couldn't care less about the jyuniishi but what choice do I have? I don't want to disappoint Ryoichi, I…I don't want to be hated more than I am hated now. I hate myself, life isn't fair, it never has been. I want to be one of them, happy, aloud to enjoy the sunshine everyday, aloud to express their opinions to each other, able to confess their darkest secrets to their closest friends, I have no friends, I have no one, I hate it!

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That very night as Tohru watched the lights flicker off in every building but Akito's; she made her way to his room and knocked.

"Don't you know how late it is, whoever it is, you are so inconsiderate, leave now!" Akito's voice came out as Tohru's knees started to shake. Even though the normal pure goodness in her was still inside her heart, the dark and mysterious power had overtaken the light that shone normally and it had put it out to a small tiny, mere invisible light.

"Umm…so sorry to disturb you Akito but I brought you some tea as I've heard it helps to prevent sicknesses… so you might want to drink some incase. I picked out green tea if you don't mind and I added some honey for more flavor." Tohru made up a lie as she entered without asking.

"Yea right… I did not ask you to enter, what right do you have to barge in like that, how despicable, I can't believe I have to deal with the likes of you, now what do you want?" Akito demanded not even looking at Tohru.

"But Akito…your health…everybody is getting sick…" She gave an innocent sigh.

"Just shut it, you don't care about me and I don't care about you, if you think bringing tea in is going to make me think you're a good person then forget it, you've wasted your time or else just leave it on the table but I won't promise that I'll drink it. Since I've heard your good at making tea but I strongly doubt it as no tea tastes good when the person who makes it is a damn pain"

"Uh..Sure…I'll just leave it here then but please just taste it, if you don't like it then it's fine by me if you throw it away" Tohru left the room with a hidden evil smile.

As she closed the door behind her, she heard Akito getting up and taking the cup from the table. She was eager to hear him suffer, cry out words of pain, that was until her 'good side' returned. 'What am I doing? This isn't right, this isn't even me, I have to stop him before he takes a sip of that tea.'

She burst into the room and yelled out "AKITO STOP!" But judging by the fact that his lips had already touched the tea, she sank to the ground and tears swelled up in her eyes. 'What have I done?' She asked herself inside her head a million times forgetting Akito was there.

"Haha, very funny Tohru Honda, I find it very amusing that you have the guts to place rat poison into my tea, I find it rather peculiar that you would dare to come to my room trying to convince me to drink it. You are too stupid Tohru and you cannot fool me and you never can so why don't you just go home and live with your darling grandpa." Akito gave a fake laugh.

"But…Akito…did you drink it? How'd you know?" Tohru stammered ignoring his insult.

"Of course I knew, you bastard. And are you blind? I drank it and now everyone's gonna blame you for my death and you better not deny it missy or something really bad could happen to you, you could be punished while I on the other hand will be thought noble and brave, to die for the zodiac animals, ha, such pathetic fools." He told her with a not so nice snicker.

"Akito…I swear, I was being manipulated, it wasn't me, I swear!"

"Oh yea, well who was it? The boogeyman? Don't answer, who knows whether you're lying or not, nobody can trust you, you can cause such havoc in our lives and you don't realize, what a freak." Akito carried on with his usual insults.

A sharp ping went to Tohru's head. "Did….did you sacrifice your life for the jyuniishi?" She asked nervously.

"Of course not, why the hell would I do that, they don't mean anything to me, nor do you, remember this so I don't have to tell you again, they live because of me, they live for me, they die for me, simple as that."

"Then. Why'd you drink it, I don't understand, you do realize that you could die? You could've lived and apart from the zodiac animals dying then there was no reason for you to do such a thing, Akito even though we haven't gotten through life as friends, I would never want you to die, it would be so horrible of me if I ever did think of that." Tohru proved her point.

"Even if I liked you, I would never tell you and do you know why? Because you're a horrible person and I really hate and despise you. Wait a minute…...Oh congratulations, I think you're plan is working." Akito sneered at her while clutching onto his stomach and rolling onto the ground looking like he was in pain. Tohru stared and watched helplessly, her hands shivering from the fright. Even if she tried to escape it, nothing would help her, she had to face reality, and she had just murdered someone. She had just killed Akito and no one will ever believe the fact that it wasn't her.

"Oh my god, what have I done? What have I done?" Tohru shriveled into a ball in the corner of the room trying to stay as furthest away as possible from the nearly dead Akito. She couldn't move, her legs were completely glued to the ground, she grabbed a nearby phone and called Hatori's cell obviously waking him up.

"Hatori, please get here quick…..Akito, he's dead." Tohru's words came as a blur, although Akito was only nearly dead, it was the simplest way to get Hatori to come quickly, exaggerating was a great source of attention.

"I can't hear what your saying but I'll be right over." Hatori replied hearing the panic in Tohru's voice meant something really bad would've happened. He woke up the others up as he took them with him to Akito's building, Kureno accepted but Ayame refused.

"I will not leave Yuki, especially when he's spending the last moments of his life here, I need to be next to him, I owe him that. In the past I haven't exactly been here for him but now I can make up for the mistakes I've made, I'm his brother and there's nothing you can do to take me with you." Ayame said actually being serious for the first time ever. Now the mood change was occurring around Ayame, his usual confident, over-obsessed with himself image had been turned upside down, he kind of looked like Hatori when he was serious.

"I don't have time for this, Kureno we got to go now, hurry." Hatori took no as an answer as he sprinted with Kureno.

"Oh shoot, what's happening?" Kureno questioned as he saw blood out of Akito's mouth and Tohru sitting in the corner looking ghost white. The tea remained untouched as they scanned the room from top to bottom. The sky had gone cloudy the moment they walked in, it was such a spooky and unpleasant atmosphere. The sohma main house felt as if it were the home of the grim reaper and they weren't joking.

"Go see if he's okay, I'll go check on Tohru." Kureno instructed Hatori.

Without obligation Hatori rushed to Akito's side trying to revive him.

"Tohru, talk to me, what happened, you need to tell me right here right now!" Kureno said sternly hoping that it would get her to speak.

"I-I-It wasn't me!" Was all that came out of Tohru's mouth.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Kureno kept questioning her.

"It wasn't me, you have to believe me." Tohru answered her face still pale as snow.

"Tohru, calm down, stop crying now tell me, what happened, what did you do or what didn't you do? Why is Akito like that? What is going on?" Questions flooded out of Kureno's mouth before he was aware of it.

"Please forgive me when I say this…I didn't mean to do what I did…Kureno…..this may sound very wrong but you just need to trust me. Okay, well..." Tohru paused

"Oh this is such a handful, we've got Akito dying here and all the others dying over there. This is crazy, I really can't take it any more." Exclaimed Hatori before Tohru could carry on speaking. It seemed Hatori had now had a personality makeover, the once calm, dull, serious Hatori was pounding his fist on the table and going completely mad. Kureno remained the sane one staring at the two, one ghostly white, can't even speak properly, dumbstruck and the other, well the other was acting like a person who was half drunk who may have gotten fired from their job.

They all discovered soon enough that this was a race against time for life. Only one can survive, Akito or the others, it was hard to tell but right now they were in a critical situation. If Akito dies, the zodiac will live, if ONE of the jyuniishi die, Akito himself will live longer than he's supposed to and that was something certainly unpredictable. It was the end of something old and now it's the start of something new, yes new, but problematic and difficult.

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I tried to write this chapter as suspenseful and dramatic as I could. Anyway since my wireless internet card didn't work in Aussie, I had to write it in Aussie but publish it at home so sorry if there as been a slow update. I guess it is a long chapter though…hehe

I hope you enjoyed reading chapter 10. Thank you for visiting my story page!

Fruitylicious-Angel


	11. Chapter 11: Life and Death

Hiya. I'm not sure where to end my story right now so it might be a bit of a muddle, well anyways; I hope you like what I've written in this chapter, it's reflected upon the mabudachi trio's lives. Reviews; please and thank you!  :D

**Chapter 11 Life or Death**

In Ayame Sohma's world, it had always been about him, but there was a time for change. His old self never gave his younger brother Yuki the chance to be part of his life resulting in Yuki treating Ayame with ignorance and disrespect. Yuki in his opinion was better off shutting Ayame out of his life rather than letting him in. And now that Ayame had become a little more mature about having a proper relationship with Yuki, things were going to be different, but they wouldn't if Yuki died. At this moment, Yuki was covered in bandages and blood, there was no answer to why he was bleeding so badly since the scars and wounds appeared out of nowhere. The world of Ayame's was falling apart; he would now lose the chance to get to know his brother more because of the sickness. He knew that soon enough he would be in the same position as Yuki.

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Hatori Sohma had lost everything, his freedom, Kana and now himself. To be honest, he never truly liked Akito that much; he didn't want to admit that, he just respected him a lot as he was the head of the Sohma family. Akito did many bad things he like hurt Hatori's left eye, forbid Kana to marry Hatori and etc with the others. But Hatori learned that he could not hold a grudge against Akito nor find revenge, Hatori wanted to be a good person, not one of those people who use their anger to hurt others. Kana had already left permanent scars on him, he could no longer love another, he was still heart-broken whenever he thought of her and he could not cure the pain inside of him. Right now the only light that shone on him was seeing the younger zodiac happy; it reminded him of the past, the time when he was young.

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His best friends Ayame and Hatori had changed during the time that had passed after they had left high school whereas Shigure still felt the same, maybe he was the one who was changing, he didn't know. The dog of the zodiac Shigure Sohma had always joked around, acted like a kid, tried to torture his editor and lots more but as the years passed, as Kyo and Yuki had come to live with him and Tohru, they felt like a real family, ignore the Sohma family issue and zodiac stuff but it was a nice family thing and now that Kyo and Yuki were going to leave so soon, an empty hole appeared inside Shigure as if part of him was missing. It was obvious that Tohru would still be around but it wouldn't be the same without everyone, even if Tohru was in their place and they were in hers, things would never ever be the same. Shigure hated that, it made him sad and he was never sad, hardly.

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If there was one thing Tohru was afraid of, it would be losing somebody close to her. She remembered the days when Kyo, Yuki and Shigure had kindly taken her in after the loss of her mother, the day she met Momiji and the other members of the zodiac, the day she went to the hot springs with her friends, the day when Kyo, Yuki, Hana and Uo had come with her to Kyoko's grave. All of these memories suppressed inside of her, they would remind her of how lucky she was to have these people around that care about her. It had been a dream come true the day she had met all these people and now the dream was going to fade, slowly but efficiently.

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_Back at the hospital ward._

Kyo opened his eyes and felt his energy slowly coming back as he sat up.

"Oww that hurt, stupid bar." He exclaimed as he banged his head onto the metal bar above his bed. He turned and looked around him, why is everyone in the hospital ward? He asked himself in his head. 'Why the hell am I at the Sohma main house, why is everyone around me sick, why was I sick, what is going on, where's that pervert Shigure, where's Tohru?' The final question left him confused; he got changed and exited the ward.

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Hatori's sanity came back when he heard a high pitched shriek. He raised his head and saw Tohru and Kureno were by Akito's side tugging on his arm. He opened his mouth and whispered a small swear word. His vision was blurry and unclear, he wasn't sure if it was what he'd thought, he heard the sound of scurrying maids and servants all arriving circling around Akito.

"I- I can't feel his heartbeat…Akito's g-g-gone." Kureno stammered.

Even if Tohru were to choose to not believe the truth, it all made sense as soon as Kyo stepped into the room with wide eyes of anxiety. The sound of turning heads made Kyo nervous.

"Why are you are staring at me? What's going on? What the hell is wrong with Akito?" He asked sounding angry for some reason. They ignored his question as they turned their attention back on to Akito.

"Hatori! Do Something!" One of the servants called out.

"I'm sorry, I can't. Like Kureno said, he's gone."

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It took a while for them to think it through, the head of the Sohma family Akito Sohma was no longer alive, he had moved on to a more peaceful state. The jyunishi one by one each started to recover. All members of the zodiac including Kyo attended the grand funeral, Tohru, Kazuma, the servants etc. The grave of Ryoichi was back in it's rightful place, magically, a sign which meant it was over, when everyone had thought the zodiac were going to die, it was the complete opposite. The flowers started to bloom, the weather cleared up; suddenly a huge weight was lifted off each and every one of the jyunishi and Tohru.

The funeral was held at night, candles were lit around the room and dark colored flowers surrounded the place with a refreshing sweet scent. Everyone wore black as the grieved in the absence of Akito. Shigure had arrived at the main house a day before the funeral ceremony, he was too late but glad that he had missed the moment as it would've been too depressing.

During the voice of the speakers, Tohru sat and wept silently, not only because of the death, she couldn't help but feel responsible for what had happened. Her evil form was in control, she had taken the rat poison and she had placed it in Akito's tea. Akito had died of poisoning and it was all Tohru's fault, in her point of view anyway. She sat between Kyo and Yuki, she was so glad that they had recovered, she was half full of warmth and joy knowing that they would be by her side always whereas the other half was held down by guilt. The only people that knew of Tohru's incident were Kureno, Hatori, Shigure and Ayame. She had recently told Kyo, Yuki and Momiji as well, knowing that she needed someone to talk to her; they listened and tried to cheer her up.

"Tohru, it's not your fault, don't blame yourself for this situation, it wasn't the real you. Please don't be so hard on yourself." Momiji pleaded her with an innocent expression.

"Momiji, I'm trying not to be a pessimist but if I'm not the one to blame then who will be?" Tohru asked staring at the ground.

"That damn ghost." Kyo murmured.

Yuki came back with a glass of water and handed it to Tohru. "Here you go Miss Honda, drink some water, even if this atmosphere is too tragic , you need to take good care of yourself., if something were to happen to you, then we would be very worried

"Thank you Yuki, but you don't need to take care of me, I'd be asking for too much, I've committed a crime, I deserve to be punished."

"No you don't, Geez, Tohru if your mother was here, she'd be bloody troubled. Look at you, your not even sleeping well, you look ill." Kyo commented.

"Kyo's right, Tohru you need to let go of the past, I don't mean forget your mother but remember that what you did, was right. You saved the zodiac, ignore the fact that the evil you poisoned him but you were being manipulated." Shigure butted in.

"Momiji, Yuki, please come to my office, I need to run more tests." Hatori entered and dragged them off.

"Oh well, I guess I better be going to, I need to help with Akito's grave." Shigure walked off which left Kyo and Tohru sitting in the corner by themselves.

"Listen, I'm gonna get something for you to eat and you have to eat it or else….or else…oh forget it, just eat it when I come back." Kyo went to the buffet and selected a few of Tohru's favorite rice balls and fruits. He came back with a tray full of food and placed it on the table by Tohru.

"Here, eat." He told her casually.

"Kyo, thank you." She picked up her fork and started to eat. She was hungry; she hadn't eaten for two days.

"Whatever, I'm just glad that you're eating."

"Umm…Kyo, when you were in hospital, you were the first one to catch the sickness and Hatori had informed me that you might've been the first to die if Akito hadn't given up his life. I was so scared, I was worried for all of you that it motivated me to do something about it, I couldn't sit there and watch you die, I needed to help so it drove me to….to." Tohru paused,

Kyo was touched, nobody had ever done something so noble for him before, not even his own mother or father. Apart from Kazuma taking him in and raising him as his own, this was something special.

"Uhh…Oh…That's…..Thanks." Kyo stammered.

Suddenly a weird feeling reached the both of them. They turned their heads and saw Haru standing behind them; it looked as if he was listening to their private conversation.

Kyo jumped up. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm attending the funeral and I popped in to say hello to Tohru and to check if she was alright, I mean not to be rude or anything but Tohru looked so gloomy, I was afraid Kyo might've done something to hurt her feelings." Haru replied with his usual blank expression of confusion.

"Oh, what? No way!"

"Judging by your anger, I wouldn't be surprised it you were." Haru answered coolly.

"Oh no, Hatsuharu, I'm fine. Kyo was just giving me something to eat and umm…cheering me up a little but it was very sweet of you to check up on me." Tohru smiled.

"No worries." Haru disappeared within seconds.

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Hatori drove Shigure and the others home a few hours after the funeral as they fare-welled the others. It was good to be home finally after two weeks of non-stop drama, all they wanted was a well deserved holiday.

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Well that's the end of Midnight Phantom….for now. Please review this chapter! I hope you've enjoyed reading this story, well the first part of it….hehe. I'm writing a sequel to this story very soon so be sure to check in the fruits basket category every once in a while or just check on my profile page if I have published a new story/sequel to this or not.

Thanks a lot for reading Midnight Phantom (part one).

Fruitylicious-Angel


	12. Sequel Information:

A/N: So sorry for people who have already read this but I don't know how it lost the data on my sequel so now I have to publish it again.

Okay so for people who don't know:

The sequel to this story is called

FROM HEAVEN TO HELL

Genre: Angst/SupernaturalRated: K+ OR T

Summary: When strange things occur on board their dream holiday cruise ship to Miami, Tohru suspects something is going completely wrong...but what? Read to find out. Plse review!


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